


Brave, Courageous, Heroic

by Aibhilin



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29657091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: Sokka could’ve hurried straight after her. Could have stood between Fire Nation soldiers and his bigger, older sister.Could’ve-Could have.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	Brave, Courageous, Heroic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kitsune_Scribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Scribe/gifts).



> Hope you'll like it, dear recipient?
> 
> Enjoy~!

* * *

They all had things that they were fond of.

Her brother, Sokka, had his silly boomerang.

Aang, the avatar, had his flying glider and the air.

As for her? She had her amulet.

The necklace she was wearing that was a memento of her mother’s, a memory she could be found cradling whenever the mood hit her.

In those moments, she thought of the strife and the hassles the woman who had given her life had to have suffered through.

She thought of the pain and the sadness her mother had to have experienced at the hands of another nation’s soldiers.

But Katara also thought of how her arms had felt around her tiny little shoulders when she’d been a little child, in need of protection.

Her mother had saved her life, spared her – and gone to the Fire Nation in her stead.

Katara hadn’t even known what the men had been there for, she’d been that small back then.

Some days, she found herself wondering about the what-ifs.

What if she’d been taken instead?

What if she’d been quicker and managed to charge after her mother to get them to let her go?

What if her grandmother hadn’t been quick enough to keep her from running after the soldiers who had been taking her mother away from her?

Countless scenarios had coursed through her head already.

She’d gone through every single one, mentally, imagining.

Then again, if any of that had happened – there was no telling what would have happened next, was there?

Sokka could’ve hurried straight after her. Could have stood between Fire Nation soldiers and his bigger, older sister. _Could’ve_ -

Could have.

But didn’t.

Her mother-

No, _their_ mother.

Had been brave. Courageous. A hero.

Katara-

wasn’t.

And then…

she was.

She became brave.

She jumped over her own shadow.

She got courageous and defended her family.

She did heroic deeds in the hopes it would help her friends.

Chosen as it was, her family was hers, nonetheless.

(sometimes, a chosen family is worth more than any “real” clan member and she did well to remember that)

Katara learned and grew – both as a person and, well, physically, as well.

All of them had only been kids when the Summer Solstice Invasion began.

They all matured from the experience – some in more obvious ways than others, she supposed.

( _yes, even Toph_ )

And yet, she had those moments where she grew contemplative again, letting the past wash over her and thinking back to easier times.

( _not that there had ever been that many to cherish in the first place_ )

She cradled her amulet with care, still, and remembered her mother – and, now, her grandmother as well – fondly, for all that she couldn’t recall her face perfectly any longer.

Her mother was there with her. The woman was there in Sokka’s face, she was there in their father’s hugs and she was there when she embraced Aang, too.

Their bond was not one broken this easily, for it had been forged in memories from long ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Had fun reading, I hope?
> 
> Please don't hesitate to leave me a comment, should the mood strike you! :D


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